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Tuesday ’s big news thatGoogle is acquiring surety inauguration Wizfor a book - breaking $ 32 billion comes with a very big qualifier .
Google says it will position Wiz as a “ multicloud ” offering , meaning mavin will not be a Google - only shop .
The reality is that Google had no option but to do this , and a closer look at the reasons behind the decision highlights the weak spots that Google is aiming to fill in with Wiz .
Customer retention
Wiz brings a monolithic customer list to Google . As of today , the inauguration has already reached an yearly revenue rate of $ 700 million . Before the news break on Tuesday , it was on rails for that to grow to $ 1 billion .
“ Before the news broke ” is the operative phrase here .
Google and Wiz certainly hope the acquisition will create an interesting unexampled funnel of customers and gross . But first and first of all , both will ask to insure they keep existing customer from shopping around for another security supplier .
Many of these client already use a hybrid cloud arrangement , and they may not employ Google Cloud at all . One of the key reasons some of them choose Wiz in the first situation was its ability to stomach multiple cloud platforms .
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If Google cuts off that ability , it risks alienating those users .
That ’s why Wiz chief operating officer Assaf Rappaport and other senior leaders — Wiz also secured $ 1 billion on top of the $ 32 billion to continue all of its talent as it transition to Google — were call customers in the hr lead up to the deal and after it was announced , reassure them that it ’s just clientele as usual .
Antitrust regulation
When tidings broke last summer that Alphabet / Google was looking to develop Wiz , speculation chop-chop followed about the regulatory challenge of pushing such a tumid deal through . Google has been under intense antitrust scrutiny for years , especially for its say-so in field like lookup , mobile operating systems , and advertising .
The regulative climate has shifted since . The U.S. under President Trump has yet to discover a major antimonopoly case , and there are interracial opinions about how his administration will come near Big Tech . Some believe that Big Tech company will still face roadblocks ; others — looking at recollective term trends like Microsoft gettingapprovalto buy Activision — think the great - deal windowpane is opened once again .
“ That Google feels able to contemplate big M&A again seems big in itself , ” my fellow Natasha quipped to me . “ Do they imagine they have the Trump administration on its side ? ”
Meanwhile , in smaller but still influential market place like the U.K. , regulators have latterly taken a more favourable stance on Big Tech as part of a broader button to signal that “ the U.K. is opened for line of work . ” So - name hyperscalers may see this as an opportunity to issue from their M&A sleep .
Even if the regulative climate remains dodgy for Big Tech M&A , Google ’s “ multicloud ” positioning can come in handy .
Cloud services and cybersecurity are by all odds not two areas where Google dominate decently now , so this business deal alone might not raise antimonopoly alarm clock Bell .
But if regulatorsarescrutinizing Google ’s overall ascendency , accent Wiz ’s ability to work out across different swarm platforms could help Google ’s contestation that it supports competition .
Google Cloud just can’t catch up to AWS and Azure
The last reason Google had to embrace the multicloud good example is simple : Many customers just do n’t and wo n’t use Google Cloud . As of Q4 2024,Statistadata render that AWS had a 30 % share of the global swarm market , with Azure in 2d place with 21 % . Google Cloud tail significantly behind them at 12 % .
Why is Google so far behind ? Some say it ’s because AWS got an earlier starting signal in the field . Others cite Microsoft ’s enterprise dominance and strong ecosystem — including its OpenAI partnership — clam these have feed it an sharpness . Google lacks both advantages .
A span class ago , the great unwashed wondered if Google might end the spread , given its cloud offerings were comparable to AWS and Azure .
“ Google Cloud has always been a bit of a mystery when it comes to their position in third blank space in cloud infrastructure market share , ” former TC writer Ron Miller pronounce to me today . “ They start the gravid cloud covering in the world , yet have had bother translating that into products for enterprise customers . ”
He cerebrate that alter under current Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian . “ He has much more credibility with initiative customers , ” say Miller . “ They have been originate fast the last distich of years and have a middling material business but still way behind Amazon and Microsoft in term of taxation . ”
During an investor call on Tuesday , it ’s notable that Kurian underline that Google pursued Wiz because of its multicloud capabilities .
“ Multicloud is something our customers want , ” he say . “ Our commitment to multicloud means that new IT contrive an organization does with Google Cloud can function with their existing IT investments , and allows them to opt unlike vendors for merchandise in the futurity . customer do n’t want to be shut up into one vendor . ”
But Kurian also conceive that AI might exchange the biz .
AI architectures typically see expectant enterprise pool data from multiple places , rather than rely on a cardinal swarm supplier , Kurian suppose . This intend multicloud security is more critical than certificate for a centralised cache of data point . Multicloud is the auction pitch to “ facilitate client identify , protect , and defend against cyber threats across all major swarm and even in on - assumption scheme , ” Kurian said .
Now we will see if regulators , and cease user , corrupt into it .
